PN 4121 
.07 
Copy 1 




THE ESSENTIALS OF 
EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

FREDERICK WESLEY ORR 



ESSENTIALS OF 
EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

A Beginning Course in Speaking 



BY 



FREDERICK WESLEY ORR 

PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING IN LAWRENCE COLLEGE 



&u 



1921 



? ^ 



^ 



O- 1 



PREFACE 

Two aims were sought in writ- 
ing this book; first, to bring to- 
gether in a single text, a discussion 
of those fundamental elements that 
would form a foundation for the 
future development of the speaker, 
in other words, to evolve a genuine 
beginning course in Speaking; sec- 
ond, to meet a real situation in the 
high school, namely, to provide a 
text that the English teacher could 
use, and a course that would lay a 
foundation for the contest work 
now so well established in nearly 
all high schools, so that less elocu- 
tion and better speaking might re- 
sult. It was believed that by placing 
the emphasis on the thought side, 
by working to stimulate the causes 
of speech, a better foundation for 
future progress would be laid, and 
in the end, a more genuine type of 
speaking would result. 

F. W. O. 



COPYRIGHT 1921, BY 
F. W. ORR 



©CU624563 



SEP 29 I9?i 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 
CHAPTER I. 

Introduction -- - - - - - -- 5 

Purpose of Course. Nature Of Speech. Point of View. 

CHAPTER II. 

The Five Essentials -- - - - - - 10 

An Emotionalized Purpose: Objectifying the Purpose; 

Removing Self Consciousness. Exercises. Guide for Criti- 
cism. 

CHAPTER III. 

Analysis of the Problem ------ 14 

Relation of Audience to Subject. Revealing the Scope of 
the Task. Exercises. Guide for Criticism. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Knowledge of the Subject ------ 19 

Methods of Preparation. Sources of Material. Methods 
of Reading. 

CHAPTER V. 

Effective Development ------- 22 

Organization : Restatement of Purpose ; Statement of Cen- 
tral Thought ; Statement of Common Interest ; Outline of 
Central Thought. Exercises. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Effective Development, (continued) 26 

The Oral Paragraph: Structure; Style; Methods of De- 
velopment. 



4 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

CHAPTER VII. 

Effective Development, (continued) 34 

Choice of Material and Interest: Interest Through Vari- 
ety, the Familiar, the Specific, the Vital, Originality, 
Humor. Exercises. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Effective Development, (continued) 39 

Action and Motives : Classification of Motives ; Motives 
Illustrated. Exercises. Thought Assimilation and Oral 
Practice : The Speech Outline ; Guide for Criticism of 
Outline. A Method for Thought Assimilation. Exercises. 
Oral English : Vocabulary. Grammar. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Coordination of the Agents of Speech 45 

Mental Concentration. Adequate Conceptions. Impres- 
sion Before Expression. Stimulation of the Cause of 
Speech. Removing Constrictions. Platform Appearance. 
Exercises. Guide for Criticism. 

CHAPTER X. 
Suggested Outline for a Beginning Course in Speaking - 51 



ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 



CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTION 

THE PURPOSE OF THE COURSE 

Authorities are more or less agreed on what should be accom- 
plished in a beginning course in Speaking. The difference in opin- 
ion arises when methods are considered, and when an effort is made 
to determine where the emphasis should be placed to accomplish a 
given purpose. According to Professor A. T. Weaver of the 
University of Wisconsin, such a course "should be aimed at the task 
of developing the innate capacities of the pupils and adjusting them 
to their social environment." He also says ; "The special function 
of training in speech is to furnish the pupil with a knowledge of the 
fundamental processes of speech and to start him on the way to the 
control of his body as the instrument of his mind in communication 
with those about him." Most of us can heartily agree with both of 
these statements if properly interpreted. 

The chief fault of most beginning courses in speaking, is that 
they are concerned almost entirely with the technical processes of 
speech and thus fail in the most fundamental aim of the course, 
"the development of the innate capacities of the pupils" and their 
"adjustment to their social environment." They aim at perfection 
in speech, — perfect voices, perfect articulation, perfect gestures, for- 
getting that these are results achieved only after years of training 
and much practical experience. They also forget that training in 
these elements alone not only does little toward the development of 
the innate capacities of the pupils, but may, if improperly taught, 
totally unfit them for their social environment. 

What then, are some of the more specific aims that may be sought 
in a beginning course in Speaking? 

First, an attempt should be made to free the student from self- 
consciousness. There can be little creative thinking and less effec- 
tive speaking as long as the student's primary attention is on self. 
Selfconsciousness cannot be removed by directing attention to self, 
to the faults of the speech mechanism. That is the surest way to 
increase it. The student's attention must be directed away from self 
toward the accomplishment of some purpose with the listener. As 



6 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

interest in his purpose grows, attention to self wanes, and normal 
mental and emotional conditions are gradually established. 

Second, the student's power to think creatively should be devel- 
oped. This demands first, mental and physical poise, a condition 
which cannot obtain until selfconsciousness is removed. To think 
creatively while standing before people is an entirely different pro- 
position from thinking creatively while alone. There are a thousand 
and one distractions to contend with. Here we have one of the 
fundamental problems of the speaker, for creative thinking is the 
Father of speech. 

Third, the student should be given a method for research. It is 
true that he may learn to use the school library in other courses, 
but no art, not even writing, requires such a thorough mastery of 
facts as does the art of speaking. The speaker must not only know 
of the facts, he must have made them his own. They must be his 
to use when and where he pleases. 

Fourth, the student must be taught the fundamental principles of 
oral thought development. He must be taught to analyze the 
problem presented by every subject and audience; to realize the 
necessity of securing and sustaining the interest of the listener. He 
must be taught the difference between the written and the oral style ; 
the necessity for the use of arguments that will appeal to the listener. 

Fifth, more adequate vocal and physical reactions must be secured 
through the stimulation of the mental and imaginative processes 
rather than through the practice of purely technical exercises. 
Years of experience have convinced the author that technical exer- 
cises have no place in a beginning course. Too much time is needed 
to make the proper mental and emotional adjustments; to acquire 
the ability to think before people after those adjustments are made; 
to learn how to analyze each specific problem presented by each 
given subject and audience and to become proficient in the organi- 
zation of facts so as to meet that problem effectively. Here is a 
field sufficiently broad for a beginning course. To introduce tech- 
nical exercises before these steps have been mastered will produce 
artificiality and will retard the student's progress. Only a smatter- 
ing of technique could be given and this would be worse than 
nothing. 

THE NATURE OF SPEECH 

At its best, Speech is a very complex process. It involves perfect 
mental and physical coordinations. While these coordinations may 
be and usually are present when the student is speaking to a friend 
in a natural environment, they may be wholly destroyed when he 
is placed on a platform and faces a group of critical listeners. His 
unconscious ease is gone, his muscles become rigid, his heart pounds 
and his breathing is greatly interfered with. Normal conditions for 



THE POINT OF VIEW 7 

speech are wholly lacking. Selfconsciousness, fear and even panic 
have taken possession of him. Thus certain emotional reactions of 
the speaker may interfere very definitely with these fundamental 
coordinations, hence the resultant poor speech. 

This is due to the fact which is so often overlooked, that the 
speaker and the instrument through which he speaks are one. The 
body is the whole, the agents of speech are a part. Anything affect- 
ing the whole being is bound to affect its parts. The beginner, stand- 
ing before the class for the first time, is gripped by fear. He finds 
mental concentration almost impossible. His diaphragm is weak 
and his breathing becomes irregular. Tension in his throat makes his 
voice husky and shaky. Tension in his limbs makes his knees knock 
together. Altogether, he is very miserable. This situation is too 
often ignored. Obviously it must be corrected before the niceties of 
speech are given consideration, for it interferes with a fundamental 
condition which must obtain before there can be any marked 
progress. 

THE POINT OF VIEW 

Instead of a course that will train the student in the expert use of 
the voice and body in speech, we have here a practical course in 
every day speech ; a course that will develop the innate powers of 
the student and help to adjust him to his social environment. It 
will even "start him on his way" to the control of his body as the 
instrument of his mind, for it will teach him that physical and 
mental poise which is essential to right mental and physical coordi- 
nation for speech. It will cover a limited field of fundamental prin- 
ciples that can be more or less mastered in a two or three hour 
semester course. 

It is believed that the elimination of selfconsciousness, the de- 
velopment of the power to think creatively and with purpose before 
people, the mastery of the principles underlying effective thought 
development for oral speech, constitute not only a sufficiently broad 
field for a beginning course, but in addition emphasize those funda- 
mentals that must be mastered first. Speaking may be likened to 
playing upon an instrument, in fact that seems to be the common 
conception of speech. When we think of it as such, it seems per- 
fectly natural that the first step in speech training should be the 
tuning of the instrument, hence exercises in voice, in gesture, in 
articulation. But such procedure fails to recognize that the instru- 
ment and the player are one; that the adjustment of the player to 
self, to purpose and to audience is first necessary; that the player 
must first be taught to create something worthy of expression and 
to create it in the presence of the listener ; that this creation is the 
sole cause of speech, the fundamental reason for speech ; that quali- 
ties of voice and gestures are mere results of the desire of the 



8 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

speaker to reveal his creation effectively to the listener. I do not 
mean to infer that voice and gesture are not important elements in 
speech. What I do mean is that they result from more fundamental 
things, and it is these more fundamental things that must be 
mastered first. To begin with the externals of speech, instead of 
attempting to stimulate its cause, merely directs the speaker's 
attention to his physical awkwardness and his vocal constrictions, 
both of which may be more or less due to the new environment in 
which he finds himself. How much better to first adjust him to his 
new environment, teach him to think creatively and with purpose, 
then you will have the basis for effective speaking, a natural method 
for the establishment of those fundamental coordinations of mind 
and body. These once established, technical exercises in voice and 
action may follow, and delivery may be still further improved. 

Extempore Speaking seems to offer the greatest amount of prac- 
tical training in the fundamentals of Effective Speaking. That this 
is true may not be apparent to some because of the different concep- 
tions we may have of the meaning of the term "Extempore." The 
term originally meant, "on the spur of the moment," "offhand," 
"without preparation." But recently it has taken on a different 
meaning and the term "Impromptu" has been used to express the 
old meaning. Obviously a course that is to give training in the 
fundamentals of Effective Speaking must require study and prepara- 
tion. According to Professor Shurter of the University of Texas, 
"Extempore Speaking does not consist of speaking without prepara- 
tion, but rather with such thorough preparation that ideas, previ- 
ously thought out and arranged, rush to the brain in such well- 
marshalled array as to overcome bondage to any set form of words." 
The Extempore part, then, is found in the choice of words, phrases 
and sentences used to express the thought in the mind ; in the choice 
of material such as illustrations, anecdotes or concrete examples, 
used on the spur of the moment to regain a lagging attention ; in the 
adaptation of material to changing conditions that obtain during the 
course of a speech. 

Extempore Speaking helps to overcome self consciousness. If 
the student is made conscious of an audience, and of a definite 
problem that he must solve in relation to that audience, he will soon 
forget self and become absorbed in his problem. It also stimulates 
creative thinking. If a desire to speak is first aroused, if originality 
of purpose is stressed, if a central idea that is generative is chosen, 
the speaker's attention is so centered that creative thinking must 
follow, provided, of course, that there is sufficient mental poise and 
brain power to produce that commodity. It aids in establishing the 
proper mental, emotional and physical coordinations. If the student 
is encouraged to speak on those subjects that vitally affect him, on 



THE POINT OF VIEW 9 

which he has taken a strong emotional stand, both physical and vocal 
reactions will result. The physical reactions may not be in the form 
of graceful gestures, but they will be sufficient to affect the tone 
quality and thus suggest the emotional attitude with force and 
sincerity. 

After selfconsciousness has been removed and students have 
acquired the power to think creatively before an audience, memo- 
rized material may be used to enable the teacher to more effectively 
criticise the student's ability to establish the proper coordinations 
for speech. Care must be taken, however, to make sure that all 
coordinations are the direct result of thinking and feeling and not 
of volitional manipulations. As the student acquires confidence 
before audiences, exercises in poise and relaxing exercises may be 
given so that better physical bearing will result. The aim of the 
first course should not be to teach expertness in the use of the voice 
and body for speech purposes, but rather to free the channels of 
expression, establish the power to think before people, suggest 
means and sources for the acquisition of material, teach a method 
for the organization of this material and above all, see that the 
student has a definite purpose to accomplish and a desire to accom- 
plish it, and having done this, you have started him a long way on 
the road to effective speaking, you have also developed his innate 
power, and have done more to adjust him to his social environment 
than could be done in any other way in the same length of time. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FIVE ESSENTIALS. 

In order to accomplish the aims set forth in the first chapter, the 
following essentials of effective speaking must be considered. 

1. An Emotionalized Purpose. 

2. A Careful Analysis Of The Problem Presented By Subject 
And Audience. 

3. A Thorough Knowledge Of The Subject. 

4. Effective Development. 

5. Responsive And Coordinated Agents Of Speech. 

AX EMOTIONALIZED PURPOSE 

The fault of most extempore speaking, whether it be an argument 
with a friend or a more formal talk to a group, is its indefiniteness. 
The prevailing belief seems to be that all that is required is fluency. 
Students are apt to speak merely because they have been assigned a 
topic, with little or no purpose save to make a passing grade. We 
are all more or less familiar with the fluent, wordy, rambling re- 
marks of the average small town lawyer or preacher who invariably 
bores his audience to tears, and we have come to realize that success 
lies in the appreciation of the need for definiteness of purpose. 
There must be first, a definite subject for a definite audience; 
second, a desire to speak on that subject to the given audience for a 
specific purpose. 

What is to be gained by suiting the subject to the audience, by 
taking into consideration the general characteristics of the audience 
to be addressed, and choosing a specific theme to present to such an 
audience? Two fundamental results are secured. The speaker has 
limited himself to a specific field and thereby has secured definite- 
ness. But more important still, he has objectified his purpose. It is 
with this latter result we are especially concerned, for by objectify- 
ing his purpose, his attention is taken away from self and centered 
on the development of his theme for a specific listener. As selfcon- 
sciousness is the bane of the beginner, any method which will enable 
him to forget self and concentrate on his purpose is a valuable 
method. Here, then, lies the great value of establishing a definite 
consciousness of purpose with audience, — it tends to create an 
objective as well as a subjective state of mind, and by so doing, 
establishes more effective mental and emotional conditions for 
speech. 



AN EMOTIONALIZED PUEPOSE 11 

Having become conscious of a specific subject for a definite 
audience, the speaker must next desire to speak on that subject to 
that audience for the sake of accomplishing some specific, realized 
purpose. A speech to be effective must come from the heart. There 
must be a sincere desire on the part of the speaker to make the 
audience understand, believe or do something. Unless this desire 
is present, the speech will be merely perfunctory, listless and unin- 
teresting. There will be no stimulation of physical responses on 
the part of the speaker and as a result, the body and voice will lose 
much of their value as expressive agents. On the other hand, the 
urge of an emotionalized purpose will vitalize the whole being, so 
that the entire organism will act as a unit in conveying the speaker's 
purpose. 

By an Emotionalized purpose, we mean a purpose prompted and 
vitalized by feeling, that is, by sympathy, loyalty, love, hatred, cour- 
age or patriotism. A student pleading for support for the football 
team has an emotionalized purpose. His feeling of loyalty is aroused, 
his face brightens, his bearing reveals his earnestness and his voice 
is vibrant with emotion. His audience catches his spirit because of 
its genuineness, and responds generously to his appeal. He is not 
thinking of self, but of the cause for which he pleads. One of the 
greatest hindrances to effective speaking has been removed. So the 
beginner should select that subject which especially appeals to him, 
one that arouses his greatest enthusiasm. He should try with every 
means at his command to win his audience to believe or do what he 
wishes them to believe or do. The result may not be adequate, it 
will not be artistic, but it will be genuine, and because of its genuine- 
ness, its effect on others will be greater than the effect of studied 
gestures or manipulated voice. The essential value at this stage of 
the course is, however, the value to the speaker, of so dominating 
his attention with an absorbing purpose, that he forgets self ; and 
of so vitalizing his purpose that he speaks from the heart. The 
great principle involved here is that all expression, to be effective, 
must be the direct result of an inner impulse, and that impulse, to 
be effective in speech, to overcome the timidity or selfconsciousness 
of the speaker, must be an emotionalized impulse, so strong and 
intense that all other feelings in regard to self are subordinated or 
entirely inhibited. If the speaker advocates a cause that has 
aroused his deepest sympathies, his impulse to speak will be stimu- 
lated by strong feeling and his purpose will be emotionalized. The 
speeches made in behalf of the starving Armenians had an 
emotionalized purpose because the speakers' sympathies were 
deeply stirred. To be sure, not every speech will be dominated by 
such strong feeling. But for the beginner, those subjects that 
arouse his sympathies for a cause are best, for they take his mind 



12 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

off of self, they stimulate definiteness and sincerity and they 
tend to establish those fundamental coordinations which are so 
essential to effective speaking. 

EXERCISES 

1. Make a list of ten specific subjects for ten four-minute 
speeches to be delivered to specific audiences. 

Example: 

Subject: Appleton should have a new high school building. 

Audience : City School Board. 

2. Make a list of five specific subjects for four-minute speeches 
to definite audiences, choosing those subjects which will arouse your 
greatest enthusiasm. 

3. Prepare to speak for four minutes on one of the above sub- 
jects. Be careful to select that subject in which you have the great- 
est interest, the one that arouses the deepest feeling within you. In 
your preparation, stand before an imaginary audience and let your 
purpose so dominate you that all thoughts of self are forgotten in 
your desire to serve your audience or your cause. Choose the most 
vital and compelling reasons why your point of view should be 
accepted and present them with the sole idea of gaining their 
acceptance from your audience. Do not try to force your audience 
but rather try to persuade them. Get definite contact with them 
through the eye, the language used, and as far as possible, through 
the whole physical organism. Remember that your problem is to 
accentuate your purpose with a given audience, so that definiteness, 
an objective attitude of mind, and proper mental and physical 
coordinations will result. 

GUIDE FOR CRITICISM 

In criticizing first attempts to arouse an Emotionalized Purpose, 
it should be remembered that emotion cannot be forced. You can- 
not by volitionally willing to do so, make yourself feel. It is only 
through the contemplation of things or ideas that arouse feeling, 
that feeling comes. By thinking of the wrongs done a weak nation, 
sympathy is aroused. With this in mind, two questions should be 
asked and answered: 

1st. Did the development of your topic bring out facts 
that had emotional association for you ? 

2nd. Were you able to concentrate your attention on 
these facts to the exclusion of other things, so that feeling 
was aroused ? 
If you are able to answer yes to the first question but are com- 
pelled to answer no to the second, your problem is one of concen- 



AN EMOTIONALIZED PURPOSE 13 

tration. If your topic was "Armenian Relief" and you brought 
out the distressing details of the need for relief without the slight- 
est emotional reaction, then, either you are lacking in sympathy, 
or something interfered with the grasping of the significance 
of these details. It is your problem to find out just why there was 
not a sufficient emotional reaction. It may have been due to a pre- 
conceived notion that it is weak to show any feeling before people. 
It may have been that the facts were merely presented from memory 
without a realization of their significance. It may be that fear for 
self inhibited the true feeling. Whatever the cause, it must be dis- 
covered and an effort made to correct it. The student must start 
with the understanding that people can never be moved to action 
until their emotions are stirred. And their emotions will never be 
stirred unless the speaker himself reveals some feeling. Then he 
must strive to so concentrate on the facts and details that have 
emotional associations for him, that true feeling will result and all 
external hindrances will be completely shut out. 

If, after an analysis of your topic, you discover that it does not 
contain facts or details that have strong emotional associations, 
discard it for another. 

The primary thing sought here is an Emotionalized Purpose. 
However, when this is attained, there will come with it certain 
vocal and physical reactions. These may be crude at first, yet great 
care should be taken to encourage rather than to discourage them. 
Physical reactions should be encouraged, even though they are 
awkward at first. They are the natural reactions to feeling and if 
suppressed, feeling will also be suppressed. On the other hand, if 
they are encouraged, they seem to stimulate feeling. The only 
criticisms offered here should be constructive, and for the purpose 
of relieving strain either physical or vocal so that greater freedom 
may be given the whole organism. 



CHAPTER III. 

ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM 

The subject and the audience present a distinct problem to the 
speaker. Many speeches are failures, simply because the speaker 
considers but half of the problem. He spends much time on the 
analysis of his subject, but he totally ignores his prospective 
audience. Any analysis which does not include audience as well as 
subject, is not only incomplete, it is practically worthless, for it 
ignores the objective purpose of the speech. 

It is partly because of this tendency on the part of speakers to be 
subjective, to fail to consider the objective purpose of speech, that 
the chapter on Emotionalized Purpose was placed first. Once the 
student is made conscious of the fact that every speech has a dis- 
tinct purpose with a specific audience, he will never consider his 
subject apart from the audience to which it is to be addressed. To 
give the same speech on "Loyalty" to a group of immigrants that 
you would give to a group of college students, would be a sure way 
to court failure. The relation of the given audience to the given 
subject, presents a definite problem which must be analyzed in the 
very beginning. If the following questions are answered tenta- 
tively the speaker will gain a fair idea of the scope of his task and 
will be better able to direct his research for adequate material. 

1. What are the general characteristics of my audience? 

2. How much does my audience know about my subject? 

3. Is my audience interested in my subject? If not, how can I 
connect it with some existing interest of theirs? 

4. What shall be my general purpose, — to explain, to convince, to 
persuade, or a combination of these? 

5. What shall be my specific purpose ? What point of view shall 
I adopt? From what particular angle shall I consider my subject? 

6. To what extent will my audience accept my point of view? 
How far will they go with me? At what point will they cease to 
follow me? 

7. How much time have I in which to accomplish my purpose? 

In order to make clear the scope and purpose of the above ques- 
tions, let us analyze the problem involved in the following subject 
and audience. 

Subject: A College Education. 

Audience : A Group of High School students. 



ANALYSIS OF THE PEOBLEM 15 

1. General Characteristics of Audience. 

a. Homogeneous group. 

b. High school education. 

c. Young people of both sexes. 

d. Chiefly interested in having a good time or in preparing 
for success. 

2. Knowledge of the Subject. 

a. General knowledge of courses offered. 

b. Little understanding of purposes or values. 

3. Interest in Subject. 

a. About 10% very much interested. 

b. About 10% mildly interested. 

c. About 80% indifferent. 

d. Interest may be secured by linking the subject with their 
innate desire for a good time, or for success in life. 

4. General Purpose. 

a. To persuade, with exposition and argument used as a 
means to this end. 

5. Point of View or Specific Purpose. 

a. A College education is of great practical value to the pro- 
spective business man or woman. 

6. Acceptance of Point of View. 

a. Some may accept but a large majority will be skeptical. 

b. They will admit the cultural value but doubt the practical 
value. 

c. It will be the problem of the speaker to effectively reveal 
the practical values, such as mental poise; the power to think 
clearly and logically; the ability to make prompt and correct 
decisions. 

7. TIME FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH 

a. Four minutes. 

From this analysis we learn that our given audience is composed 
of a homogeneous group of young people of both sexes, whose 
chief occupation is having a good time and preparing for future 
success, whose knowledge of the purposes and practical value of a 
college education is very general and limited. They think of it 
rather as a field for the display of athletic powers, of oratorical 
ability, or in a few cases, as a place where one must burn the mid- 
night oil in his search for knowledge. About 10% are interested 
because they have planned to go to college. Another 10% are 
mildly interested, but about 80% have little interest in the general 



16 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

subject. Since the fundamental interests of the average person in 
this group are a good time and future success, interest in the subject 
can be secured by pointing out first, the many opportunities for 
pleasure that college life affords, such as social pleasures, sports, 
fraternity life, etc. ; second, by revealing the relationship between 
a college education and success in life. 

We learn also that the Purpose of the speaker is to persuade 
students to go to college and that Explanation and Argument are to 
be used as means to this end. It was decided that for a four-minute 
speech, the subject should be narrowed down to one particular 
phase, namely, "The practical value of a college education to the 
prospective business man or woman". It was believed that few 
would see the practical value of a college education. Most would 
feel that a business college offered greater opportunities for success, 
thus failing to discriminate between fundamental training and 
specialized training. They would admit the cultural value, but 
would need considerable enlightenment and many concrete facts 
before they would be convinced of the practical value. It is there- 
fore at this point of divergence of opinion, that the speaker must 
put forth his greatest effort in order that he may win his audience 
to his point of view and make them want to do as he wishes. 

SUMMARY 

It is clear, then, that the subject and the audience present a dis- 
tinct problem which must be analyzed in the very beginning. This 
analysis must make clear to the speaker the scope of his task by 
revealing the general characteristics of the audience ; its knowledge 
of the subject; its interest in the subject; and means of arousing 
further interest and securing acceptance of the chosen point of view. 
It should also reveal the general purpose of the speaker with the 
given audience ; his specific point of view ; and the main difficulties 
that must be removed before this point of view will be accepted. 
With this knowledge of his task before him, he is ready to begin his 
search for material. 

EXERCISES 

I. Analyze the problem involved in speaking on the following 
subjects to the given audiences, by answering definitely the seven 
questions stated above, for each subject and each audience. 

GENERAL SUBJECT AUDIENCE 

* t- i ,1 , , 1 • ( a - School Board 

1. Football should not be permitted in J ■, students 

the High School. ) " Parents 



ANALYSIS OF THE PEOBLEM 17 

( Tli T? 14- 

2. The Girl's Basketball team should be 1 ^ Average Audience 
permitted to play out-of-town games. | c Girl Students 

( a. The Faculty 

3. Attend the football game. < b. Average Audience 

( c. Students 

a. Student Body 

4. Subscribe for the school paper. J b. Advertiser 



t 



Alumni 



5. One reason why the U. S. should lead/ a. Average Audience 
in disarmament. ( b. Students 

„ T ,„ , , \ a. Laborers 

6. Why coal costs so much. j b Students 

- ^ \ a. Business Men 

7. Be prompt. j ft Students 

II. Prepare a four-minute Extempore speech on one of the above 
subjects. Make use of your analysis and let it guide you in your 
preparation. 

GUIDE FOR CRITICISM OF SPEECHES 

As each new Fundamental is discussed and put into practice in 
assigned exercises, criticism naturally centers on the Fundamental 
under consideration. It is better to center attention on one thing at 
a time, especially in the beginning, thus advancing step by step. It 
is of little value to discourage the student by telling him of all of his 
faults at once. Nor will he make the greatest progress by trying 
to correct them all each time he speaks. When studying Analysis, 
limit criticism very largely to a constructive discussion of the 
student's attempt along this line. Do not distract his attention by 
criticizing his articulation or his standing position. The one Funda- 
mental that can be emphasised each time, however, is the Emotional- 
ized Purpose, for without that, other elements will suffer. Then 
build your criticism step by step, including briefly those Funda- 
mentals already studied, but centering on the one under considera- 
tion at the moment. 

Apply the following tests to all speeches illustrating effective 
Analysis. 

1. Did the speech show that the speaker had considered the 
general characteristics of his audience, such as education, class of 
people, general interests, etc? 

2. Did he effectively guage their knowledge of his subject? Did 



18 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

he take too much for granted, or did he tire them with details with 
which they were already familiar ? 

3. Did the speech show a realization of the need for securing and 
sustaining interest ? 

4. Did he adopt and develop a definite point of view ? 

5. Did the speech reveal an understanding of the likes and dis- 
likes, the prejudices of his audience toward his point of view? Did 
he say anything that would antagonize them rather than lead them 
to accept? 

6. Did he realize his limitation as to time and narrow his theme 
accordingly ? 



CHAPTER IV. 



A THOROUGH KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUBJECT. 

The speaker must be master of his subject. He must have con- 
sidered it from many different angles, mastered its details, and 
accumulated a store of facts and illustrations that he can use in 
developing his central idea. A majority of the failures in Extem- 
pore Speaking are due to faulty preparation, or a lack of mastery 
of the subject to be discussed. Too many classroom speeches are 
merely the paraphrasing of a single article that the student has read. 
While this may have a certain value, it destroys all originality both 
of thought and development, does not stimulate the creative faculty, 
nor permit the student to speak from convictions arrived at through 
his own mental processes. A cardinal principle governing prepara- 
tion for speaking might be stated as follows : 

That preparation is best which stimulates originality, arouses 
positive convictions, and provides those facts and illustrations 
which make it possible for the speaker to express his convictions 
in an effective way. 

In order that the Extempore Speech may be an original expres- 
sion of the speaker's convictions, the following method for prepara- 
tion is suggested. 

1st. Jot down what you already know or believe about 
the subject. 

2nd. Converse with authorities or those especially inter- 
ested in it. 

3rd. Read as extensively on your subject as your time 
will permit.. 

If your speech is to have the stamp of your own personality, 
and is not to be merely a rehashing of what you have read, it is 
best to begin by jotting down what you already know and believe 
about the subject. Your knowledge may be very meager and your 
beliefs untenable, yet as Professor Winans says, "It may be you 
will abandon every supposed fact, every opinion, every bit of 
analysis as a result of further study; still you will not simply 
'swallow whole' what you read, but will use discrimination and 
judgment, since you have brought forth from the recesses of your 
subconscious mind something for a basis of comparison." This 
process of self study in relation to your subject will tend to develop 
an original view point. It will also make you conscious of what you 



20 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

know and what you do not know about it and will thus help to 
direct your research later. 

Having carefully analyzed your own ideas on the subject you are 
to discuss, you should next converse with authorities, or with those 
especially interested in your theme. If you are to discuss the advisi- 
bility of abolishing football from the high school, talk with the high 
school Principal, the football coach, the members of the team and 
members of the school Board. In this way you will hear many 
arguments from many different points of view. If you carry this 
discussion far enough, you will get a fair idea of the average 
attitude of your audience toward your subject, and this should be 
of great service to you in the final accomplishment of your purpose. 

Those first two stages in your preparation are far more important 
than the next and last. If they are omitted, the speech might just as 
well be left unsaid, for it is in these two steps that convictions are 
formed, and freshness, vigor and originality are developed. 

Of course ideal preparation requires the reading of everything 
obtainable on the subject. If lack of time prevents this, then read 
as many representative articles, from different points of view, as 
possible. Use your library. Ask your librarian for a bibliography 
of your subject. The Library of Congress furnishes bibliographies 
on topics of public interest. If no bibliography is available, make 
one of your own from Pool's Index to Periodical Literature and 
The Reader's Guide, both of which are to be found in most 
libraries. Your librarian will explain how to use these guides. The 
catalog of Public Documents will give you a list of governmental 
publications on various social, political and educational subjects. 

For special information regarding particular facts, The Inter- 
national Year Book, The World Almanac, The Statesman's Year 
Book are especially helpful. 

Historical facts may be found in Larned's History for Ready 
References, Harper's Book of Facts, or Hayden's Dictionary of 
Dates. 

Literary facts may be found in Brewer's Readers' Handbook, 
Peet's Who's the Author, or Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. 

Much more material can be covered if the student understands 
how to read. A combination of extensive and intensive reading will 
accomplish the best results. By extensive reading we mean the rapid 
scanning of a wide range of material with a purpose to simply 
understand ; by intensive reading, the sustaining of the attention on 
each idea for the purpose of obtaining complete conceptions so 
that those ideas will make a deeper impression. In extensive reading 
you locate material, while in intensive reading you make that 
material your own. 

Students can learn to read more rapidly and at the same time 



A THOEOUGH KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUBJECT 21 

more effectively. So much collateral reading is required in almost 
every course in college that this subject has come to be vitally 
important. With a little practice, students can learn to read at least 
one third faster and at the same time retain what they read much 
longer and reduce the strain on the eye. 

It has been found by many classroom tests, that the eye of the 
average student stops from three to four times in reading a single 
line. This indicates not merely slow reading but a strain on the eye. 
The proper action in extensive reading is for the eye to take in one 
whole line at a sweep. This rythmic action is less tiring to the eye 
and much more rapid. It will also have the tendency to eliminate 
the waste of time and mental energy required in mental pronuncia- 
tion of words. Full attention will be given to ideas and after this 
habit of reading has been acquired, what is read will be retained 
longer. 

In intensive reading, the purpose is complete assimilation of the 
thought. Words are grouped into smaller phrases and longer atten- 
tion is given each group. This sustained attention intensifies con- 
ception. Each idea stands out vividly and the mind also relates it 
to the other ideas in the sentence and paragraph, and to past experi- 
ence. In this way the thought is completely assimilated. 

Do as much Extensive reading then as possible. Make a note of 
those articles which contain material pertinent to your subject and 
purpose. Reread such articles Intensively. 

SUMMARY 

In summary, then, if your speech is to have the creative stamp of 
your own personality, you must begin by doing original thinking. 
This original thinking and the original conclusions drawn must be 
augmented, corrected and revised by conversations and arguments 
with others interested in your subject. Finally, you should do both 
general and special reading. It is only by a thorough mastery of 
your subject that you can succeed in Extempore Speaking. 



CHAPTER V. 

EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT 

Up to this point in your preparation you have analyzed your 
problem, that is, you have carefully considered the vital relation of 
subject and audience, and have determined just what your purpose 
shall be in presenting the given theme. You have thought about this 
theme in relation to your purpose and have drawn some original 
conclusions. You have talked, possibly, with authorities on this 
subject and have received new impressions and have gained new 
ideas. You have argued with your friends and associates about it, 
and perhaps have been forced to revise or alter some of your former 
beliefs. You have read both extensively and intensively what others 
have thought and written about it, and here you have found many 
and varied points of view. 

I. ORGANIZATION 

You are now ready to take up the task of the organization of your 
material for the accomplishment of your Specific Purpose. This 
should be brought about by working out the following steps in the 
order suggested. 

1. Restatement of Purpose, if necessary, in the light of 
your research. 

2. Statement of a Central Thought. 

3. Statement of a Common Interest related to subject. 

4. Outline development of Central Thought. 

1. RESTATEMENT OF PURPOSE 

After much argument and reading, you will often find it necessary 
to restate your purpose in the light of what you have read and heard. 
If your subject is "America and Disarmament", and you started 
out with the idea of showing that America should lead in disarma- 
ment, you may discover in your study of world political conditions, 
that such a move would be unwise at the present time. Hence you 
might restate your Specific Purpose as follows : "You should be- 
lieve that America should cooperate with the Allies in a disarma- 
ment program." Such a statement at once clarifies your task. By 
saying "You should believe", you are directing your attention to 
the accomplishment of a specific task with an audience. You are 
saying, "You, my audience, should, through a contemplation of the 
facts which I shall give you, arrive at certain definite conclusions. 



EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT (ORGANIZATION) 23 

In this instance you should accept as true the statement that 
"America should cooperate with the Allies in a disarmament pro- 
gram". In other words, you are objectifying your purpose and 
establishing consciousness of audience. 

In addition to the establishing of a definite consciousness of a 
distinct problem with an audience, you have also stated your point 
of view. You have decided exactly what truth or idea you wish to 
establish in the minds of your audience. You now have a very 
definite goal in mind, and all future effort can be directed toward 
its attainment. 

2. STATEMENT OF CENTRAL THOUGHT. 

The first step in the attainment of your purpose is the statement 
of a Central Thought, a generalization, which when developed, will 
be sufficient to produce the desired result. Before wording this 
Central Thought, however, you should review your analysis of 
your problem ; the type of audience you are to speak to ; its know- 
ledge of the subject; its attitude toward it, whether prejudiced, 
indifferent or sympathetic. All of these things will determine to 
a large extent, the choice and wording of this Central Thought. 

In order to make an average audience believe that America 
should cooperate with the Allies in a disarmament program, the 
following Central Thought, when developed, might be convincing. 
Central Thought: "Such cooperation will eventually lighten the 
tax burden of the American people". It should be noted that this 
is only one reason why we should follow such a course. There are 
other reasons, many of them, but this is probably the most convinc- 
ing one for the average audience. It is seldom necessary to give all 
the reasons to secure conviction. In fact, it is much more effective 
to develop in detail the most vital reason for the given audience, 
than to scatter your attack by merely mentioning many. It has 
been truly said that one well directed shell will sink a ship, while a 
charge of bird shot will only scratch the paint. 

3. STATEMENT OF A COMMON INTEREST 

Having stated your Purpose and your Central Thought, you 
should next consider how best to arouse interest in your chosen 
theme. This is usually the only introduction necessary for the 
short extempore speech. There may be subjects and occasions 
where even this is not required. However, it is essential that 
interest in your subject should exist in the very beginning. If it is 
not already present, it should be aroused. Any speech which fails 
to secure and hold the attention of the audience will not be effective, 
for no matter how important the thought, if it is not listened to with 
attention, it will make no impression. 



24 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

Attention is secured through interest. The problem, then, is to 
arouse interest. Different audiences are interested in different 
things. The farmer's interest differs from the merchant's, the 
merchant's from the laborer's. General audiences are usually com- 
posed of many groups with different interests. The problem of the 
speaker is to find a common interest and link that to his chosen 
theme. Professor James, the noted psychologist, says, "Any object 
not interesting in itself may become interesting through being asso- 
ciated with an object in which an interest already exists." It is 
desirable, then, to discover and state as a part of your outline, a 
Common Interest which is involved in, or related to, the Central 
Thought. Suppose you are to speak to the average audience on the 
subject of International Law. While the average audience would 
know and care little about international law, they would be intense- 
ly interested in how Germany violated international law in her sub- 
marine warfare. There you would have a Common Interest which 
could easily be linked up with the broader subject and thus careful 
attention would be secured. 

4. OUTLINE OF CENTRAL THOUGHT. 

The most effective outline for the Extempore Speech is that form 
which conforms to the principles of Rhetoric, such as Unity, Coher- 
ence, and Emphasis, thus relieving the speaker, to a certain extent, 
from the consideration of such things at the moment of speaking, 
and permitting him to give his entire attention to the adequate de- 
velopment of two or three main subdivisions of the Central 
Thought. These subdivisions should be topic sentences for oral 
paragraphs. They should be so worded that their relation to the 
central thought is evident, and they should include the facts, illustra- 
tions and general material that the speaker believes would be most 
effective in securing the attention, belief or action of the audience 
on the stated proposition that the speaker is developing. If each 
main idea is so worded that it stands as proof of the Central 
Thought, and if the wording clearly shows the relation of each main 
idea to the Central Thought, Unity and Coherence in the larger 
subdivisions of the speech will be secured. Emphasis can be taken 
care of by placing the most important ideas at the beginning and at 
the end of the speech, for these are the emphatic positions. 

While some may find a more detailed outline better suited to 
their needs, and while the construction of a detailed outline is a very 
helpful exercise in the organization of the details of proof, experi- 
ence has shown that if the speaker attempts to remember too com- 
plicated an outline during the oral development of his speech, he is 
compelled to give too much of his attention to recalling the complex 
organization that he has previously built up, and is therefore unable 



OUTLINE OF CENTRAL THOUGHT 25 

to give enough attention to more fundamental things. However, 
the speaker must have a store of facts, illustrations and general 
material to draw on for the development of each main idea 
expressed in the outline. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Make brief outlines for five four-minute speeches. Include in 
each outline a statement of Subject, Purpose, Central Thought, 
Common Interest and two or three Topic Sentences for oral para- 
graphs which develop the Central Thoughts as stated. 

Example : 

Subject: Extempore Speaking. 

Purpose: You should take a course in Extempore Speaking. 

Central Thought : Such a course will be of great practical 
value to you while in college. 

Common Interest: Relation of Effective Speaking to high 
grades. 

Topic Sentence I : It will give you a greater degree of self- 
possession when before people. 

Topic Sentence II : It will give you a method for thought 
assimilation. 

Topic Sentence III : It will teach you to express what you 
know concisely and effectively. 

2. Using the same five subjects stated above in exercise 1, work 
out new outlines for entirely different audiences. Since your audi- 
ence was the class in the first exercise, imagine it a group of labor- 
ers or the school Board this time. 

3. Prepare to speak on the most effective outline, using the topic 
sentences as stated and developing them into effective oral para- 
graphs. 



CHAPTER VI. 
EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT (Continued) 

II. THE ORAL PARAGRAPH. 
1. STRUCTURE. 

While most people find it fairly easy to write a unified and effect- 
ive paragraph, many find it difficult to speak one. The same 
rhetorical principles apply to the construction of the paragraph as 
to the whole composition. The paragraph must have Unity, 
Coherence and Emphasis. Nothing must be introduced that does 
not develop the topic sentence. The relation of each sentence to 
the topic sentence and to the sentences preceding it and following it, 
must be perfectly clear. The most important thought must be 
placed at the end and a summary sentence should bind the whole 
together. 

2. STYLE. 

The style should be Oral, not stilted, wordy or bookish. By an 
oral style we mean that it should be conversational, a style that 
recognizes a listener, not too colloquial nor yet too formal, but 
direct, sincere and objective. All slang should be avoided and an 
effort made to speak pure English. Each sentence should be 
instantly intelligible, hence long and complicated sentences should be 
avoided. The listener has no opportunity to go back over what has 
been said. If he does not understand it when spoken, he loses it 
forever. Hence the speaker should use those forms which aid the 
understanding, such forms as Repetition and Comparison, for they 
are essential aids to clearness. Concise, definite terms and simple 
sentence structure are always preferable to a complex style. 

3. METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT 

The method used in the development of the oral paragraph will 
depend on the general purpose of the speaker and the attitude or 
relation of the audience to the subject. Obviously, if the speaker is 
to explain a theory, without any desire to gain its acceptance, he will 
not use arguments or proof. On the other hand, if he wishes to 
gain acceptance for some cherished idea, it will be necessary to 
present concrete facts, illustrations, proof, before he will be able to 
accomplish his purpose. The kind of facts or proof necessary, 
will depend on the kind of audience he is addressing, whether 
educated or uneducated, prejudiced or unprejudiced etc. 



THE OEAL PAEAGEAPH 27 

Exposition or Argument form the backbone of most speeches 
which have a serious purpose in view. It is true that Narration or 
Description are sometimes employed, but usually as a means to an 
end rather than as an end in themselves. Authorities suggest the 
following methods of developing Expository and Argumentative 
paragraphs, a. Restatement; b. Comparison; c. Illustration; d. 
Specific Details ; e. Negation ; /. Analogy. 

a. By Restatement is meant the reassertion of the topic sentence 
in different terms. This form tends to hold the listener's attention 
on the original assertion until that assertion is understood or made 
impressive. 

Example : 

"If you were a caucus tonight, Democratic or Republican, 
and I were your orator, none of you could get beyond the 
necessary and timid limitations of party. You not only would 
not demand, you would not allow me to utter one word of 
what you really thought, and what I thought. You would 
demand of me — and my value as a caucus speaker would de- 
pend entirely on the adroitness and the vigilence with which I 
met the demand — that I should not utter one single word which 
would compromise the vote of next week." (From the oration, 
"Daniel O'Connell," by Wendell Phillips). 

Here each sentence merely reiterates the thought expressed in the 
first, that "none of you could get beyond the necessary and timid 
limitations of party." 

b. In Comparison we make things clear by showing their similar- 
ity to something that is familiar to us. Suppose you wish to arouse 
interest in the game of Volley Ball which is new to your community. 
You compare it to tennis, a well known and popular game, by stating 
that like tennis, it is played on a court divided in the middle by a net. 
The hands are used instead of racquets and the ball is similar to a 
basket ball, only smaller and lighter. By such a comparison, if 
carried far enough, a good idea of the game is conveyed. 

c. Development by Illustration calls for the use of examples. 
Some specific situation or event is used to bring home more effec- 
tively, the speaker's point of view. 

Example : 

"That is politics ; so with the press. Seemingly independent, 
and sometimes really so, the press can afford only to mount the 
cresting wave, not go beyond it. The editor might as well shoot 
his reader with a bullet as with a new idea. He must hit the 
exact line of the opinion of the day. I am not finding fault 
with him; I am only describing him. Some three years ago I 
took to one of the freest of the Boston journals a letter, and by 



28 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

appropriate consideration induced its editor to print it. And as 
we glanced along its contents, and came to the concluding 
statement, he said, 'Couldn't you omit that?' I said, 'No; I 
wrote it for that; it is the gist of the statement.' 'Well/ said 
he, 'it is true ; there is not a boy in the streets that does not 
know it is true ; but I wish you would omit it.' I insisted ; and 
the next morning, fairly and justly, he printed the whole. Side 
by side he put an article of his own in which he said, 'We copy 
in the next column an article from Mr. Phillips, and we only 
regret the absurd and unfounded statement with which he 
concludes it.' He had kept his promise by printing the article ; 
he saved his reputation by printing the comment." (From the 
oration, "Daniel O'Connell," by Wendell Phillips). 

This illustration or example of his experience with the press, apt- 
ly supports his original contention that "the press must hit the exact 
line of the opinion of the day." 

d. Development by Specific Details involves the use of concrete 
facts in support of a general statement. This is the most common 
form of proof and is effective because it presents to the listener 
something definite, concrete and tangible. 

Example : 

"Many times the attempt was made to stretch the royal 
authority far enough to justify military trials ; but it never had 
more than temporary success. Five hundred years ago Edward 
II. closed up a great rebellion by taking the life of its leader, the 
Earl of Lancaster, after trying him before a military court. 
Eight years later that same king, together with his lords and 
commons in Parliment assembled, acknowledged with shame 
and sorrow that the execution of Lancaster was a mere murder, 
because the courts were open and he might have had a legal 
trial. Queen Elizabeth, for sundry reasons affecting the safety 
of the State, ordered that certain offenders not of her army 
should be tried according to the law material. But she heard 
the storm of popular vengeance rising, and haughty, imperious, 
self-willed as she was, she yielded the point; for she knew that 
upon that subject the English people would never consent to be 
trifled with. Stafford, as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, tried 
the Viscount Stormont before a military commission. When 
impeached for it, he pleaded in vain that Ireland was in a state 
of insurrection, that Stormont was a traitor, and the army 
would be undone if it could not defend itself without appealing 
to the civil courts. The Parliment was deaf ; the king himself 
could not save him; he was condemned to suffer death as a 
traitor and murderer. Charles I. issued commissions to divers 



THE ORAL PARAGRAPH 29 

officers for the trial of his enemies according to the course of 
military law. If rebellion was ever an excuse for such an act, 
he could surely have pleaded it ; for there was scarcely a spot 
in his kingdom, from sea to sea, where the royal authority was 
not disputed by somebody, yet the Parliment demanded in their 
Petition of Rights, and the king was obliged to concede, that 
all his commissioners were illegal." (From "The Right To 
Trial By Jury" by Jeremiah S. Black). 

In this paragraph we have four specific instances citied to prove 
the topic sentence, "Many times the attempt was made to stretch 
the royal authority far enough to justify military trials ; but it 
never had more than temporary success," the instances of Edward 
II., Queen Elizabeth, Viscount Stormont, and Charles I. These well 
known instances are convincing proof, especially for the student of 
history, for he knows them to be true. 

e. Development by Negation proceeds to tell what a thing is not. 
It sweeps away all false notions in regard to it and thus gives us a 
better conception of its true character. 

Example : 

"Restatement, it will thus be perceived, is not a progression 
in thought, but a reassertion. It adduces no proof, offers no 
reasons, gives no details, but says the same thing in a different 

phraseology " (From Effective Speaking, P. 91, 

by E. A. Phillips.) 

Here the author tells what Restatement is not; he shows what it 
does not do and in this way we have a better conception of what it 
really is. Negation is seldom used alone but usually in conjunction 
with some other method. 

/. An Analogy is a form of comparison. In it we infer that if 
two propositions are similar in certain essential particulars, they 
may also resemble one another in some other particular known to 
be true of one, but not known to be true of the other. 

Example : 

"I would only say in order to prevent misapprehension, that I 
think it is precisely in a time of war and civil commotion that 
we should double the guards upon the Constitution. If the 
sanitary regulations which defend the health of a city are ever 
to be relaxed, it ought certainly not to be done when pestilence 
is abroad. When the Mississippi shrinks within its natural 
channel, and creeps lazily along the bottom, the inhabitants of 
the adjoining shore have no need of a dyke to save them from 
inundation. But when the booming flood comes down from 
above, and swells into a volumn which rises high above the 



30 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

plain on either side, then a crevasse in the levee becomes a 
most serious thing. So in peaceable and quiet times our rights 
are in little danger of being overborne; but when the wave of 
arbitrary power lashes itself into violence and rage, and goes 
surging up against the barriers which are made to confine it, 
then we need the whole strength of an unbroken Constitution 
to save us from destruction." (From "The Right To Trial By 
Jury" by Jeremiah S. Black). 

In this paragraph Judge Black is developing the idea expressed 
in the first sentence, that "it is precisely in a time of war and civil 
commotion that we should double the guards upon the Constitution". 
He draws an analogy between the Mississippi River raging at flood 
tide, and the arbitrary power of those in control of the government 
when that government is at war. He says that just as a break in 
the dykes along the lowlands, when the river is on a rampage, is 
dangerous for the people who live along the shore, so a break or 
departure from the Constitution during war times is dangerous for 
the nation because of the tremendous power given those in control 
of the nation's destiny. We know the first to be true by experience ; 
he infers the second to be true by analogy. 

While each method has been taken up separately and illustrated, 
it must not be supposed that most paragraphs are developed by one 
method alone. On the contrary, most paragraphs employ two or 
more different methods in their construction. They may start with 
a transitional sentence. Then may follow the topic sentence. This 
may be restated in different terms for clearness or impressiveness. 
A general illustration may then be brought in and this may be 
followed by specific details. In fact this is the ideal development. 
But as variety is just as essential to paragraph as to sentence struc- 
ture, no two paragraphs are developed exactly alike. The different 
methods have been separated primarily for the purposes of study, 
so that the student may be able not only to distinguish between 
them, but may have at his command a variety of methods for the 
effective development of his topic sentence, whatever it may be. 

EXERCISES 

1. Analyze the methods used in the development of the following 
paragraphs from student's speeches. Find the Topic Sentence. 
What method or methods are used to develop it? Is the develop- 
ment adequate for the average audience? What other methods, if 
any, might have been used more effectively? 

a/'This brings us face to face with a serious question. Are our 
judges, as a class, so corrupt as to willfully discriminate against 
Labor? Our answer is an emphatic 'No, not as a class,' though 
no one can doubt that there are some corrupt judges. Three have 



THE ORAL PARAGRAPH 31 

been removed by the United States Senate, and others by the states. 
However, the abuse is not so much the product of a corrupt judicial 
mind, as of our unhappy judicial system. Nearly all of our Federal 
judges enter upon the bench as great corporation lawyers. Such 
men as Justice Layton, Pitney, Day, Holmes and Clark. These 
men have spent the greater part of their lives in defending property 
rights. In harmony with a psychological law, it is difficult for 
them to appreciate the interests of the common workingman, especi- 
ally when those interests conflict with the interests of property 
owners. Then our judges are bound by precedent. One abusive 
injunction is used in support of others. Soon it becomes a basic 
rule, and occasionally a judge exceeds the established precedent. 
This is the natural process. It is gradual and unnoticed by those 
not directly affected. Therefore it is continuing, and has reached 
a stage where it threatens to destroy the rights of Labor and our 
respect for Court and Law." 

b. "It is undoubtedly true that the effectiveness of any law de- 
pends upon the swiftness with which it can be applied to a given 
case. Here lies the power of the injunction. With no complicated 
methods of precedure to hinder, and with unlimited power to 
enforce his demands, the judge may issue the injunction, hale an 
offender into court, fine or sentence him to prison, all in one day. 
But in this very fact lies the danger. No one realizes so fully the 
effectiveness of such a method as does capital. Backed by the best 
legal talent to be had, Capital has been able in scores of cases to 
induce a judge to use this unlimited power outside of equity 
jurisdiction. Labor, which under the Constitution is guaranteed a 
trial by jury, has been forced to submit to one man rule. Take, for 
example, the case of Debs in the Chicago strike in 1894. On the 
ground that the A. R. U. was obstructing the U. S. mails, inspite 
of Judge Wood's restraining order, Debs and the other officers 
of the Union were arrested for contempt of court. Without a trial 
by jury, Judge Wood condemned Debs to six months in prison 
and his associates to three months. President Cleveland's strike 
commission said : "There is no evidence before the commission that 
the officers of the A. R. U. at any time participated in or advised 
intimidation, violence or destruction of property." 

c. "Such a plan is thoroughly practicable for there would be 
no more difficulty in applying and enforcing this law than was met 
with in the application and enforcement of the railroad rate laws 
of Wisconsin. Whereas a minimum wage board deals only with 
one item in the cost of production, namely, wages, the rate commis- 
sion regulates the entire source of income of the railroads. No one 
knowing the large number of complex problems that are being 
handled by the rate commission would say that the minimum 
wage boards would have as many or as complex problems as are 



32 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

being successfully solved by these commissions. The opponents of 
a minimum wage law will find their arguments as groundless as 
were the arguments advanced against the application and enforce- 
ment of the rate laws. Judging from the success the railroad rate 
commission has had in dealing with equally great, if not greater 
complexities, we have good assurance of the success of the boards 
in applying the minimum wage laws." 

d. "The success of minimum wage laws now in operation gives 
us further assurance that the plans we advocate can and do work 
out in actual practice. The calamitous results predicted by the 
opponents of the minimum wage have not followed. Practical ex- 
perience shows that the minimum has not become the maximum, 
unemployment has not been increased, capital has not been driven 
out of the country, the efficiency of the workers has not decreased. 
Government experts have investigated the workings of the minimum 
wage laws now in operation and have compiled their findings in 
Bulletin 167 of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statictics for 1915. In 
this report we find on page 180 in regard to the minimum wage laws 
in England, a country having complex industrial conditions like 
those of the U. S., the following summary: 'The minimum did not 
tend to become the maximum, there has been no general tendency to 
increase unemployment, there has been no tendency to drive capital 
out of the country, the efficiency of the workers has been increased.' 
In Oregon the following results were noted: 'The wages of 53% 
of the women workers were raised, the efficiency of the workers 
was not decreased, there was no general tendency to level wages.' " 

e. "A man may possess information and still not be educated. 
His mind may be full of facts concerning his trade, business or 
profession, and yet he may lack true perspective. Learning for 
culture's sake is not to be despised. The mental discipline so derived 
is a vehicle of social and personal power. Tremendous value may 
be obtained from mental training and emotional control which re- 
sults from contemplation of the classic more than the merely novel. 
The mental power arising from the study of languages, the develop- 
ment of reason obtained from working out problems in mathematics, 
and the intelligent, sympathetic appreciation of man, his doings and 
inventions, as gained in reading the history of civilization, are 
powers, are riches which the uncultured cannot understand." 

/. "These causes are augmented by the world wide policy of 
heavy armament. Although it may be conceded that armament, by 
making war more fatal and expensive, does tend to prevent strife, 
it cannot be denied that the possession of arms and continual 
practice in their use, make it more easy and more natural to resort 
to their use. A raging man or a raging nation, if possessed of 
arms will use them. But let us go farther. Because the nations 
are armed, they are sensitive, and fancy that insults are being 



THE ORAL PARAGRAPH 33 

offered, each by the other. England and Germany are continually 
glaring at each other. Our own jingoes are constantly scenting 
trouble with Japan. Everywhere there is danger of conflict. Al- 
though an armed peace is possible, it is perilous. It is not built 
upon a rock." 

g. "The need for international mindedness becomes more evident 
with every passing age. The world grows ever smaller. The three 
thousand miles of ocean are no longer a protection. It is but a step 
to Europe now. The world is at our very doors. The ocean voyage 
has changed from nine weeks of hardship in the little sailing vessel 
of the Pilgrims to five days of ease and luxury in the modern 
floating sea palace. And now the giant air plane has made the 
journey possible in thirty six hours. The electric cable and the 
wireless have bound the continents together and made our antipodes 
our neighbors. The age of provincialism is past. It is now time to 
think in world terms." 



CHAPTER VII. 
EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT (Continued) 

III. CHOICE OF MATERIAL AND INTEREST 

No matter what methods of development are used, unless the 
material selected, the ideas, arguments and illustrations used are 
interesting and hold the attention of the audience, the speaker's 
purpose will not be accomplished. We have already discussed the 
necessity of securing the attention of the audience in the very begin- 
ning. It is just as vital that the attention be held throughout the 
speech. No matter how logical the development or how strong the 
arguments are in themselves, if they are not the kind that appeal to 
the listener, that hold his attention and interest, they might as well 
be left unsaid. 

Again the speaker's attention must be called to the fact that his 
purpose is objective. He is dealing with an audience and his audience 
must govern his choice of material. Their knowledge of the sub- 
ject, their point of view, their likes and dislikes, their prejudices, 
their experience, — all these things must be taken into account, for 
they all affect both the kind and degree of interest that already 
exists in the minds of the audience relative to the given subject. 

If, as has been said, interest is fundamental to success, the speaker 
must put forth a conscious effort to interest his audience. He must 
study ways and means. He must not be content to tell merely what 
is of interest to himself alone. The following general methods, 
based on sound psychological principles, are suggested as means of 
sustaining the interest of the listener. 

1. The use of Variety. 

2. Reference to the Familiar. 

3. The use of the Specific, the Concrete. 

4. The use of the Vital. 

5. Originality of thought and expression. 

6. The use of Humor. 

1. VARIETY. 

It is a well known fact that no one can attend continuously to an 
object that does not change. The surest way to lose attention is 
through monotony. The same type of sentence structure used over 
and over, the same method of paragraph development, the repeated 
use of the same phraseology, all tend to destroy interest. Variety 



CHOICE OF MATERIAL AND INTEREST 35 

quickens attention. It keeps the listener on the alert, hence is an 
important factor in sustaining interest. 

2. THE FAMILIAR. 

Reference to the Familiar also arouses interest. As listeners, we 
like to compare what is said with our experience. By giving the 
listener this opportunity, the speaker is keeping the listener's mind 
actively engaged and aware of the subject under discussion. There 
is no opportunity for it to wander, nor will it desire to, for it is en- 
gaged in a pleasurable occupation. If the speaker is arguing for 
municipal ownership of the street railways and he reminds the 
audience of a pleasurable, familiar result of municipal ownership 
of the water works, a result such as better service and reduced rates, 
and then infers that the same result might reasonably be expected 
from municipal ownership of the street railways, he is arguing from 
a familiar, known result, to an unknown but probable result. He 
is referring to a familiar experience that the audience recalls with 
pleasure. He is keeping the mind of the audience active, and at the 
same time presenting a powerful argument for municipal ownership. 
The combination of these two things leads to success. 

3. THE SPECIFIC AND THE CONCRETE. 

The Specific is always more interesting than the general, the Con- 
crete, than the abstract. The general and the abstract, if used too 
frequently, require too much of the listener. He must translate 
their meaning into concrete terms and this at times may be beyond 
his power. The general and the abstract both have their value, but 
in oral discourse they should be followed by the Specific and the 
Concrete, for it is an established law of Psychology that we attend 
most easily to sensations which reach us through the eyes, the ears, 
etc. The Concrete and the Specific present images, pictures, tangi- 
ble situations requiring little mental effort to understand them. The 
following paragraph gives specific instances of the general state- 
ment, "The truly great are found only among those who have 
suffered and have served." 

Example : 

"Misunderstood, reviled, despised, martyred it may be, such 
men cling to truth, and through the moral shock of their heroic 
sacrifices, stir decadent civilizations to their depths. Given an 
unselfish devotion to eternal principle, and Arnold Winkelried, 
the Swiss patriot, 'makes way for liberty'. An unrivaled 
sympathy, a fanatical devotion to a just cause, and an inspired 
John Brown at Harper's Ferry, hurls himself against a system 
and renders service immeasurable to the despised slave. Sym- 
pathy unbounded, love divine, — and Christ, the Savior of man, 



36 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

suffers crucifixion. Unselfish service has ever been the im- 
pelling motive of our greatest souls." 

4. THE VITAL. 

By introducing the Vital, that is, by emphasising those facts which 
are essential to the life and welfare of the individual, interest may 
be sustained. If one gives the impression either by his manner of 
speech or by what he says, that his talk is of little importance, that 
it does not touch very deeply the life of the listener, he very soon 
loses the interest of his audience. On the other hand, not every 
subject has a vital significance nor do all occasions demand speeches 
of that character. However, as a factor for the sustaining of 
interest when discussing problems that have a vital relation to the 
well-being of the community, it is especially valuable. 

5. ORIGINALITY. 

Originality is one of the most important factors for the sustain- 
ing of interest. It is an expression of personality as revealed in 
speech. The old idea is given the stamp of the speaker's person- 
ality and is expressed in a new and interesting way. A time worn 
theme receives a new interest because of an original point of view. 
Trite, shopworn expressions are avoided. The chief interest here, 
lies in the fact that the speech is a reflection of the speaker, himself ; 
his thought, his manner, his life is behind it. It is not merely a 
synopsis of something he has read. 

6. HUMOR. 

Humor, especially the funny story, is the most overworked 
method of holding interest. When called on to speak, the average 
victim will begin with a humorous anecdote. It may or it may not 
be related to his theme. His idea seems to be that the public enjoys 
humor and if he can get them to laugh in the beginning, they will 
forgive his stumbling efforts later. It must be admitted, however, 
that an apt story, well told, is an effective method of overcoming a 
lagging interest. To be effective, the story should illustrate some 
point and should not be dragged in solely for the purpose of atten- 
tion and interest. 

SUMMARY. 

In choosing material for your oral paragraphs, it is necessary that 
you should keep the audience constantly in mind. You should 
realize the necessity of sustaining interest in your theme from be- 
ginning to end. You should have at your command a variety of 
methods by which this may be done. You should understand the 
effectiveness of the use of Variety, of the Familiar, of the Specific, 
the Concrete, of the Vital. You should be able to tell a humorous 
story effectively, and above all you should be original. Constant 



CHOICE OF MATERIAL AND INTEREST 37 

practice is the only road to success, but with the desire to be inter- 
esting established, and with a fair knowledge of ways and means, 
practice and patience will do the rest. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Bring to class five examples of interesting paragraphs clipped 
from magazines or newspapers. Explain briefly the methods used 
to sustain interest in each case. Are they effective? What other 
methods might have been more effective ? 

2. Analyze and explain the methods used to sustain interest in 
the following. Are they effective? 

a. "There is one automobile to every fourteen persons in the 
United States and the thirteen other persons are always in the 
way of the one automobile at street intersections." — New York 
Evening Mail. 

b. "Newspaper item says, 'Telephone communication across 
the Atlantic Ocean possible in six months.' Only about a month 
longer than it takes to get a connection on this continent." — 
New York Evening Mail. 

c. "Fountain pens figure among the utensils confiscated in 
America for containing illicit whisky. No wonder some of 
these Americans are such spirited writers." — London Opinion. 

d. " 'How good' is more important than 'How much'. You 
want the clothes you buy to give satisfaction. You can't have 
satisfaction without good quality." — Advertisement. 

e. "The behavior of crowds is based on the emotions far 
more than upon reason or common sense. Crowd action is 
mainly selfish and short-sighted. Its mental processes are led 
by precedent, by kindergarten demonstration, rather than by 
logic or argument. The crowd ridiculed Langley and pro- 
nounced him insane, as it did Morse and Bell and the Wright 
Brothers. But when the Wrights actually flew — achieved and 
demonstrated flying — the crowd accepted it as heartily as it had 
previously condemned. In the war, aviation was the most 
popular branch of service." — H. W. Jordan. 

/. "Take the house the New Yorker lives in. It is like living 
in an elevator-shaft. Traveling from the lower subcellar, 
where the fortune represented in the coal pile is kept, to the top 
floor bedrooms keeps you in shape for track and Marathon 
events. The kitchen, where they keep the cockroaches, and the 
dining-room, where they hold the dinner parties for buncoed 
fellow citizens, are in the next subcellar up. Climbing an un- 
lighted and sinister stairway brings you to the drawing-rooms, 
dark and terrible, with ceilings 80 feet high — in January, it is 
like warming the Cathedral of St. John the Divine." — The 
New York Globe. 



38 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

3. Prepare a four minute speech on some topic of interest to you. 
Follow the method of preparation previously suggested, including 
the outline with Central Thought and topic sentences for oral 
paragraphs. Pay particular attention to the sustaining of interest 
throughout the speech. Use whatever means seem best for the 
given subject and audience. 

GUIDE FOR CRITICISM. 

While the above speeches are being made, the class should act as 
a normal audience. The speaker should be reminded that his special 
problem is to sustain interest. After the speech has been concluded, 
different members of the class should be asked to state what they 
remember of the speech. It will be found that the concrete facts, 
the specific illustrations, the original vital statements or the humor- 
ous stories are what the majority remember. These forms of ex- 
pression make the deepest impressions because they attract and 
hold the attention of the listener. By this exercise the class can, by 
inductive methods, test the truth of the preceding statements and 
discover for itself what holds attention and what merely bores the 
listener. The speaker will learn from the effect of his speech on 
the class, and from the class criticisms, just why his speech failed 
or succeeded in interesting them. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT (Continued). 

IV. ACTION AND MOTIVES. 

When the speaker's purpose is to secure action along some line, 
to arouse an audience to do something, he will find an appeal to those 
motives which induce action a vital necessity. It is not nearly so 
difficult to get an audience to believe in a righteous cause, as it is to 
get them to contribute their hard earned money for its support. In 
order to accomplish this you must show the benefits that will accrue, 
either to the individual or to humanity. If the audience is primarily 
selfish, the lower motive will be effective'; if altruistic, the good of 
humanity may make the stronger appeal. Here again the speaker 
must study his audience and determine what motives will be most 
effective in each case. 

It is difficult to make a classification that will include all the 
motives that lead men to action, but the following will include those 
most often used. 

1. Love of home. 

2. Love of Country. 

3. Love of relatives and friends. 

4. Love of Truth, the Right, Justice, etc. 

5. Loyalty to institutions, causes, etc. 

6. Love of life. 

7. The desire for money. 

8. The desire for power. 

9. The desire for pleasure, ease, etc. 

10. The desire for a good reputation. 

11. The desire for popularity. 

12. The desire for the beautiful in nature, art, etc. 

A better understanding of these motives and their use in speech 
can be gained by a single example of each. Suppose you are asking 
an audience to vote for a certain man for senator. The first five 
motives might be appealed to as follows : 

1. He will always vote to protect the sanctity of the home. 

2. He will ever uphold the Constitution of our country, a docu- 
ment that we all hold dear. 

3. He will be ever ready to protect those dear to us. 

4. He will champion every righteous cause. 

5. He will loyally uphold our sacred institutions. 



40 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

Suppose you are trying to sell an automobile to a business man. 
You might argue as follows, bringing in the rest of the motives : 

6. It will improve your health by keeping you out-of-doors. 

7. You can use it in business and thus increase your income. 

8. The ownership of a fine car gives you greater prestige in your 
community. 

9. You will derive a world of pleasure from it. 

10. By taking your less fortunate friends out, you will gain a 
reputation for generosity. 

11. It will make you immensely popular with them. 

12. The beauty of line and proportion, the splendid workman- 
ship and finish will be a joy to you as long as you own the car. 

EXERCISES. 

1. Bring to class five examples of the use of the motives for 
action. State what motives are used and to what extent they would 
be effective with the given audience. 

2. What motive or motives are used in the following paragraphs ? 
Is their use effective? 

a. "Breezes, blowing salt-sweet across the thousand miles of 
blue Pacific — the changing glories of the sunset in the sea — all 
the surging vigor of the ocean and every comfort and recrea- 
tion of your home ashore — these and much else delightful are 
waiting for you at San Diego, California." — Literary Digest. 

b. "By the ties of rapid transport, instantaneous communi- 
cation, and intricate ramifications of trade and finance, we are 
bound to Europe. Their peace and prosperity affect ours ; the 
war that menaces their existence will threaten us. Self preser- 
vation demands that, in self defense, we organize twentieth 
century society against predatory lawlessness ; but a noble mo- 
tive is the bond of brotherhood. Overwhelmed by this war and 
knowing that another means suicide, the men of Europe look 

to a future bleak with despair America is called to save 

humanity from irretrievable disaster. We can ! Shall we sti- 
fle every generous, compassionate impulse and with a world 
for a neighbor, dying by the road side, pass by on the other 
side? God forbid." — Thomas O. Harrison. 

3. With the purpose of securing Action along some line, prepare 
a four-minute speech on some vital subject. Use as many of the 
motives as you deem necessary to accomplish your purpose. 

V. THOUGHT ASSIMILATION AND ORAL PRACTICE. 
1. THE SPEECH OUTLINE. 

Having considered the different elements that enter into Effective 
Development, such as Organization, Oral Paragraph, Choice of 



THOUGHT ASSIMILATION AND ORAL PRACTICE 41 

Material and Interest, and Action and Motives, let us now consider 
the task as a whole. One of the most effective ways of doing this 
is by means of the Speech Outline. Such an outline should reveal 
at a glance two things. First, it should reveal the problem of the 
speaker, the difficulties of his task with his given audience. Second, 
it should indicate his method of solving that problem. The first 
is a matter of analysis ; the second, a matter of organization and 
choice of material. In order that there may be uniformity in the 
mechanical structure of the outline, the following form is recom- 
mended. 

SPEECH OUTLINE 

Name Date Due 

ANALYSIS. 

Subject : 

General Purpose : 

Audience : 

1. General Characteristics : 

2. Knowledge of Subject : 

3. Attitude toward Purpose : 

4. Objections and difficulties to be overcome: 

a 



b. 



OUTLINE. 



Specific Purpose : 

Central Thought : 

Common Interest : 

Topic Sentence No. 1. . . . 
Details of Development 



Topic Sentence No. 2. 
Details : 



Topic Sentence No. 3. 
Details : 



GUIDE FOR CRITICISM OF OUTLINES. 

I. Are you especially interested in the subject as stated? 
II. Is the subject suitable for the given audience? 
III. Can you become enthusiastic in regard to your purpose? 



42 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

IV. Have you correctly analyzed the relation of your audience 

to your subject? 
V. Have you discovered the chief difficulties to be overcome? 
VI. Will your Central Thought, when developed, accomplish 

your purpose with your audience? 
VII. Does your choice of a Central Thought take into considera- 
tion your analysis of your audience ? 
VIII. Can your Central Thought as stated, be effectively developed 
in the time allowed you, or is it too broad? 
IX. Have you discovered a real Common Interest that is related 
to your subject? 
X. Will your Topic Sentences when developed, overcome the 

objections and difficulties as stated? 
XI. Are your Topic Sentences worded so that their relation to 
the Central Thought is perfectly clear ? Do they stand as 
subordinate propositions to it? 
XII. Are your Topic Sentences complete statements? 

XIII. Will the details suggested be effective from the standpoint 

of Interest? 

XIV. If Action is desired, do the Topic Sentences permit an appeal 

to the strongest motives ? 
XV. Are the most important Topics in the emphatic positions? 

Before making outlines, review Chapter V. on Organization and 
follow the example under Exercise I. Test each outline by the 
questions stated above. If you can answer them in the affirmative, 
you may be sure that you have a good outline. The fundamental 
consideration of course is that the analysis of the audience should be 
correct and that the outline proper should be developed with due 
regard for the facts of that analysis. In other words, if your 
analysis reveals that your audience is hostile to your purpose, your 
outline must reveal a means of overcoming that hostility. If it 
shows that your audience is merely unfamiliar with the subject, 
your outline must reveal the details that will make it clear to them. 
Those objections or difficulties that are revealed in the analysis, 
must be taken care of in the outline proper. 

2. THOUGHT ASSIMILATION. 

With such an outline before the speaker, indicating clearly his 
problem and his method of solving it, his next concern is the assimi- 
lation of the facts contained in it. Before he is ready to speak, he 
must have clearly in mind his purpose with his audience, and the 
difficulties in the way which he must overcome. He must also have 
at his tongue's end, his Central Thought and his Topic Sentences 
for oral paragraphs. And in addition to this he must have a store 
of facts, details, illustrations, from which he can draw to develop 
each Topic Sentence. With such demands on his memory, it be- 



THOUGHT ASSIMILATION AND OEAL PEACTICE 43 

hooves the speaker to have a definite method for thought assimila- 
tion. The following has proved effective. 

a. All material, whether original or otherwise, should be 
placed on cards, one idea, illustration or argument to a card. 
These cards should be sorted and placed in groups under the 
Topic sentence which they develop. Of course no material 
should be retained that does not bear on one of the Topic 
sentences. However, it is necessary for the speaker to have 
two or three times as much material as he expects to use. 
This arrangement of his cards should be made during the pro- 
cess of organization. 

b. Take up the group of cards developing Topic Sentence 
Number I. Look through this material carefully. Shuffle the 
cards into the order that seems most effective. 

c. With these cards in your hand, stand before an imaginary 
audience and with your purpose definitely in mind, develop 
Topic Sentence Number I. into an oral paragraph, using the 
material in your hand in the order you have planned. If you 
cannot remember this order or the exact contents of the cards, 
glance at them occasionally as you would at notes, but at the 
same time do not lose your contact with the imaginary audi- 
ence. Each fact, argument or illustration must be connected 
up with your Topic Sentence and with the point preceding or 
following it, and a good summary sentence should close each 
paragraph. 

d. After the first attempt, sit down and study your material 
again. Then think the paragraph through, striving to improve 
on your first attempt. After you have done this two or three 
times, stand again before your imaginary audience and develop 
the same Topic Sentence again orally. Continue this process 
of studying your material, thinking the paragraph through, and 
then speaking it, until method and material are assimilated. 
Avoid memorizing anything except the Topic Sentences, statis- 
tics and quotations. Strive each time you speak to improve the 
phraseology and the choice of words, and in this way no set 
forms of expression will become fixed in your mind. 

e. Repeat this process for each oral paragraph until material 
and method have been adapted to the audience and made your 
own. 

/. Finally, with the Purpose and Central Thought in mind, 
give the speech as a whole. Work for unity of impression. 
Connect clearly the Topic Sentences with your Central 
Thought, and by means of a final summary leave the Central 
Thought uppermost in the minds of your audience. Do not 
use cards or outline in the final presentation of the speech. If 
the material has been mastered, this will not be necessary. The 



44 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

use of notes detracts from the effectiveness of the speech by 
dividing the speaker's attention. He should be free to give 
himself entirely to the accomplishment of his purpose with his 
audience. 

3. ORAL ENGLISH. 

We have already discussed Structure and Style under the Oral 
Paragraph, but there are other elements that deserve consideration 
if our Oral English is to be improved. The effective speaker must 
have first, an adequate Vocabulary; second, a working knowledge 
of the rules of Grammar. 

A large vocabulary is necessary to the extempore speaker. It is 
essential that he should have a large number of words to choose 
from. A limited vocabulary is just as much of a handicap to the 
speaker as a limited range of notes is to the singer. In order that 
he may effectively express his ideas, the speaker must have at his 
command not merely one word for each idea, but a large number of 
synonyms from which he can choose that term which best suits his 
purpose. So the speaker must continually seek to increase his 
vocabulary. He should look up all words that are unfamiliar 
and make them his own. He should acquire a stock of synonyms 
for terms that he uses frequently. In this way his vocabulary will 
grow and become a more effective instrument of speech. 

Correct Grammatical structure is as much a requisite of effective 
speech as it is of effective writing. Yet the average student cannot 
make a three minute speech without committing several grammatical 
errors, though his written work may be practically faultless. This 
fact reveals the need of attention to this particular phase of the sub- 
ject. Too little time has been spent in the past on the development 
of correct spoken or oral English. Some of the common errors are 
as follows : 

a. Lack of agreement of verb with its subject. Ex. They was 
(were) much affected by the speech. 

b. Incorrect verb form for past tense. Ex. I come (came) 
home an hour later than usual. 

c. Incorrect sequence of tenses. Ex. I intended to have gone 
(to go ). 

d. Incorrect use of Pronouns. Ex. It was her (she). I don't 
know who (whom) you saw. 

e. Using adjectives for adverbs. Ex. He went slow (slowly). 
/. Joining all sentences together with "and". 

It should be the aim of the speaker to guard his English during 
his oral practice and thus establish correct habits of speech, so that 
when he comes before his audience, his mind may be concentrated 
on the accomplishment of his purpose. 



CHAPTER IX. 

RESPONSIVE AND COORDINATED AGENTS 
OF SPEECH. 

The cause of all speech is in the mind. In the mind rests the de- 
sire to explain, to convince, to move to action, some individual or 
group of individuals. In the mind rests the facts, the illustrations, 
the arguments to be used in the accomplishment of these ends. In 
the mind rests the knowledge of the most effective methods of 
thought development. It is with these fundamental causes of speech 
that we have been concerned thus far. Our whole text up to this 
point has been concerned with stimulating and building up an ade- 
quate cause for speech. We have said little or nothing so far in re- 
gard to the agents of speech, but every step we have taken has pre- 
pared the way for those fundamental coordinations of mind and 
body that are so essential to the proper functioning of these organs 
of speech. 

Right here we should be reminded that it is not the purpose of 
this course to produce polished speakers. That is a result achieved 
only after years of study. Our aim is rather to give the student a 
"knowledge of the fundamental processes of speech and to start 
him on his way to the control of his body as the instrument of his 
mind in communication with those about him." 

What are some of these "fundamental processes ?" We have just 
stated that all natural speech has a mental cause. There is always 
an idea in the mind and a desire to express it in voluntary speech. 
If your friend tells you that you are lazy, you reply sharply that 
you are not. A feeling of resentment wells up within you before you 
speak. Your look and your voice reveal this resentment. You did 
not stop to think what tone you should use, what words you should 
emphasize, or whether you should smile or frown. Yet your re- 
sponses were adequate and instantly understood by your friend. 
This was true because what your friend said aroused an emotional 
attitude within you and created the desire to deny. All this took 
place before you spoke or while you were speaking. The coordina- 
tions between mind and body were established naturally and the 
speech that resulted was effective in-as-much as it revealed the 
speaker's mental and emotional attitude. This is a fundamental 
process and is common to all conversation. 

From this we can formulate the following fundamental principle : 
All speech, to be effective, mu\st be the result of mental concepts* 
toward which the speaker has taken a definite attitude. In other 
words, if speech is to be effective, the speaker must first have an 
idea. That idea must be present because of the desire to convey 



46 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

some thought, some attitude of mind to a listener. That idea must 
be a thoroughly understood concept, the bearing of which is fully 
realized. If our analysis has been correct, this is what takes place 
in natural conversation. This is what should take place no matter 
what the form of speech. 

How to secure the same natural results for the public speaker 
that are obtained in effective conversation, is the problem of de- 
livery. Two methods are advocated representing two widely vary- 
ing points of view. The one works for natural results through a 
stimulation of the causes of speech and through the awakening of a 
conscious purpose with an audience. This method is based on the 
principle that if the student has a conscious purpose with an audi- 
ence, and if he realizes the relative value of each idea in the accom- 
plishment of that purpose, natural coordinations of mind, voice and 
body will result, and speech will be adequate for the end in view. 

The other method seeks to establish these coordinations directly, 
by technical exercises, rather than indirectly through psychic prob- 
lems. It strives directly and volitionally for variety in pitch, for 
emphasis, for tone quality, for force, for adequate bodily re- 
sponses. Both methods are necessary before the finished speaker is 
produced. But as the purpose of a beginning course is merely to 
develop the "innate capacities of the student and to start him on the 
way to the control of his body as the instrument of his mind", the 
first method is far more desirable for it is much more fundamental. 
It is a method in which causes are stimulated and right coordinations 
encouraged. Perfect results, of course, will not be obtained, especi- 
ally for those individuals that have noticeable speech defects. But 
as they constitute a very small minority, their cases can be dealt 
with separately. The second method should begin where the first 
leaves off and work directly on those conditions which cannot be es- 
tablished in the natural way. In this way all the natural, spontan- 
eous elements of speech will be retained and it will not become the 
artificial, mechanical effort that so often results when training is 
limited to the externals of speech. 

If the fundamental problem of delivery is a stimulation of its 
cause, — the mental concept and the desire to express it, — then we 
must discover ways and means to stimulate that cause. 

MENTAL CONCENTRATION. 

First, the mental concept, the idea, must be given a deeper mean- 
ing. By that we mean that the speaker should grasp the full signifi- 
cance of each idea before he gives it to his audience. This can be 
accomplished first, by realizing its immediate relationship or signifi- 
cance ; second, by relating it to experience. To illustrate the first, 
suppose the speaker is pleading for funds for our disabled soldiers. 
He says : "The families of many of these men are in actual want." 



COORDINATION OF THE AGENTS OF SPEECH 47 

If the speaker does not discriminate in his own mind between one of 
our disabled soldiers' families being in want and any other family in 
want, he has not grasped the immediate relationship, value or signi- 
ficance of the idea. Of course there are many families in want all 
over the country. We are accustomed to that. But that our dis- 
abled soldiers' families should be in want because these soldiers 
were crippled defending our rights, ought to arouse a very different 
reaction within the speaker. 

Then the speaker can deepen the meaning of an idea by relating 
it to his own experience. If the speaker makes the statement: "It 
pays to be generous," and realizes out of his past experience the 
truth of the statement before he utters it, the idea will have a 
deeper significance for him. 

The reason the average beginner fails to do these things may be 
due to two things, either his mind is taken up with other matters, 
or he has a false conception of delivery. The speaker too often 
attempts to think ahead and thus fails to give full value to the idea 
he is expressing. Or he may be merely speaking from memory. 
Often he considers speaking simply a means of showing off what he 
can do with his voice. 

The only way adequate conceptions of ideas can be had is through 
mental concentration on each idea before it is expressed. If you 
will listen to the best speakers, you will find that they invariably 
pause for an instant before each new idea. It is in this pause that 
the speaker sees the bearing of the idea, realizes its significance and 
relates it to experience. Until the beginner is willing to pause, un- 
til he is able to concentrate his entire attention during the pause on 
the next idea, improvement in speech will not result. These pauses 
must not be mere hesitations, nor must they be prolonged so that the 
speech seems to be broken up into fragments. They must simply be 
long enough for the mind to grasp the full significance of the next 
idea. This method, if properly followed, will do away with the 
usual hesitation of the beginner who starts to speak before the idea 
is clear in his mind. It will also tend to correct that too common 
error of joining all sentences together with "ands". 

EXERCISES. 

1. Give the following paragraphs to an audience, taking time to 
concentrate on each idea until an adequate conception is formed, 
before expressing that idea. 

a . "Hence I do not think the greatest things have been done 
for the world by its book-men. Education is not the chips of 
arithmetic and grammer, — nouns, verbs and the multiplication 
table ; neither is it that last year's almanac of dates, or series of 
lies agreed upon, which we so often mistake for history. Edu- 
cation is not Greek and Latin and the air-pump. Still, I rate 



48 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

at its full value the training we get in these walls. Though 
what we actually carry away is little enough, we do get some 
training of our powers, as the gymnast or the fencer does of 
his muscles ; we go hence also with such general knowledge of 
what mankind has agreed to consider proved and settled, that 
we know where to reach for the weapon when we need it." 
Wendell Phillips. 

b. "Ideas are not temporal, they are eternal. They move on- 
ward through the ages shaping the destiny of worlds. Tower- 
ing shafts and sculptured granite mark their course ; the cross, 
the stake, and the gibbet are milestones in their progress. No 
prophet of Nazareth now treads the shores of Galilee, the 
world no longer trembles at a Pope's decree, and the clanking 
of the bondman's chains is heard no more : a grateful world has 
sanctified the martyrs who, at the stake, delivered it from the 
bondage of fanaticism; and, in the age to come, the children of 
a liberated race will turn their gaze backward toward that gib- 
bet which preaches to the world the brotherhood of man." — 
Chas. E. Simons. 

c. "Industry is the mainspring to civilization. War may bat- 
ter down the barriers between petty states and weld them into 
a nation. Religion may proclaim the brotherhood of man, and 
teach that all men should live together in harmony. Industry 
brings men face to face, and binds them together with cords 
of mutual interest. Industry has its roots in human wants. 
These generate the power that drives the industrial machine. 
The waving harvest, the buzzing spindle, the flaming furnace 
are but the servants of man's wants. The thundering train, 
bearing its costly burden, the stately vessels, plowing the 
mighty deep, are driven by the magnetic power of human 
wants." — Lindley G. Long. 

2. Prepare a four-minute extempore speech using the outline 
method suggested in your text. Give it to an audience, accentuat- 
ing your mental concentration on each idea. Do not allow your- 
self to begin speaking until the idea is fully understood in its intend- 
ed relationship. 

GUIDE FOR CRITICISM 

In criticising Exercise 1, insist that the speaker shall recreate each 
thought. If the words are merely given as words, question the 
speaker in regard to their meaning, their relationship in this para- 
graph, in other words, make them mean something definite to him 
before he is allowed to proceed. Insist on pauses between ideas 
until adequate concepts are formed. Keep in mind the fact that this 
is an exercise, the chief purpose of which is to produce individual- 
ization of ideas. 

In Exercise 2, do not permit the speaker to start a sentence be- 



COORDINATION OF THE AGENTS OF SPEECH 49 

fore he is ready. Do not permit hesitation within the sentence, such 
as the — a, it — a, and — a, etc. Insist on his taking sufficient time to 
formulate the idea in his mind before speaking. 

THE AGENTS OF SPEECH. 

There are two phases to the expression of every idea. The first 
phase is concerned with the mental grasp of the idea, the second, 
with the expressing or giving of the idea. The first calls for a sub- 
jective attitude of mind, the second, for an objective attitude. We 
have discussed the subjective phase, let us consider the objective, 
the actual giving of the idea to an audience. 

The agents of speech are the voice and the body. They are ef- 
fective agents only when they react to the mental and emotional at- 
titudes of the speaker. It is this effective coordination of mind, 
voice and body that is our chief concern in all training for delivery. 
We have contended that by stimulating a more vivid conception of 
the idea, the vocal and bodily reactions will be stimulated. If a 
wrong done you by a friend seems greater today than it did yester- 
day, your statement of that wrong today will be more intense than 
it was yesterday. Your breathing will be deeper, your bodily re- 
sponses will be greater, and your voice will be more resonant and 
forceful than before. The deeper the impression, the more vivid 
the expression, is a fundamental law. Hence by accentuating im- 
pression you are improving expression, for you are stimulating phy- 
sical and vocal conditions necessary for the adequate expression of 
the given idea. 

However, this is true only under ideal conditions. Any muscular 
constrictions, whether due to fear or to habit, may prevent the 
proper physical and vocal coordinations. Hence exercises in breath- 
ing, in poise, and relaxing exercises are especially helpful to give 
the speaker that ease that is so necessary to effective speech. The 
purpose should be to free the channels of expression, so that what is 
in the mind may be effectively revealed through the voice and body. 

PLATFORM APPEARANCE. 

The student should remember that he belongs to the audience the 
moment he steps on the platform, and that every attitude or gesture 
means something. It shows that he is interested or indifferent, con- 
trolled or nervous, lazy or wide awake. He will find that good phy- 
sical poise is a great aid to mental poise and clear thinking. 

All gestures should be the result of an impulse from within, a de- 
sire to clarify or emphasize some thought. Since gesture is our 
most instinctive language, it should not be suppressed. The stu- 
dent should trust his impulses to gesture. By letting the arms hang 
freely at the sides, they will then be ready to respond to thought 
and feeling. Encourage such responses and you encourage feeling. 



50 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

Before long the body will react more readily and vocal as well as 
bodily responses will be benefitted. 

EXERCISES. 

1. With one hand on the chest and the other at the small of the 
back, expand the chest pushing both hands outward. Breathing 
should be natural and the chest should be expanded by muscular 
action rather than by forcing the breath into the lungs. Repeat this 
exercise ten times. 

2. Expand the chest as before, allowing the breath to fill the 
lungs. Let the breath out gradually, whispering "yes". Repeat ten 
times. 

3. Repeat expansion as in 2. Let breath out with a satisfied sigh, 

"ah" . Repeat ten times. Be sure there are no constrictions 

in the throat. Work for openness, freedom and relaxation of the 
throat muscles. Then carry this same feeling of freedom into 
speech. 



CHAPTER X. 

SUGGESTED OUTLINE FOR A BEGINNING COURSE 
IN SPEAKING. 

The following outline is merely suggestive and may be varied to 
suit the needs and conditions of each school. The Course as out- 
lined, covers one semester of eighteen weeks, with two recitations 
a week, or thirty-six recitations in all. Classes should be limited to 
twenty or twenty-five students at most, and divided into two sec- 
tions so that each student may speak once a week. It is advisable to 
cover the theory of the text, including the exercises suggested, in 
from ten to twelve weeks, so that the rest of the time may be de- 
voted entirely to speaking and to the application of the principles 
previously worked out. 

Teachers will find the following texts, though too advanced for 
high school students, valuable aids in the teaching of the course : 

Foundations of Expression, by S. S. Curry, published by The 
Expression Co., Copley Sq., Boston. 

Public Speaking, by Jas. A. Winans, published by The Century 
Co., Chicago. 

Effective Speaking, by E. A. Phillips, published by The Newton 
Co., Chicago. 

COURSE OUTLINE. 

1st. Week. 

Text Assignment: Chapter I. 

Purpose : To give students a clear understanding of the pur- 
pose of the course and the point of view ; to establish a friend- 
ly spirit of cooperation in the class and to eliminate all fear as 
far as possible. 

Method : Let student stand at seat and tell class about some 
pleasant experience of the summer. 

2nd. Week. 

Text Assignment: Chapter II. 

Purpose: To eliminate self consciousness by getting students 
to forget self in the solution of a more interesting problem ; to 
awaken and stimulate fundamental coordinations. 
Method: Speeches before the class on subjects of vital inter- 
est to the speaker. Utilize any local situations or activities, 
such as football or basketball games, as opportunities for en- 
thusiastic appeal. 



52 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

3rd. Week. 

Text Assignment : Chapter III. 

Purpose : To make students conscious of a definite, objective 
purpose ; to teach them to consider an audience in their prep- 
aration and to analyze the relation between subject and audi- 
ence relative to the accomplishment of some purpose. 
Method : Problems in analysis ; speeches revealing analysis. 

4th. Week. 

Speeches illustrating effective analysis continued. Let the en- 
tire class take part in a discussion and criticism of the speak- 
er's analysis of their knowledge, interests, prejudices, etc. 

5th. Week. 

Text Assignment : Chapter IV. 

Purpose : To give students an effective method for the devel- 
opment of positive convictions and originality ; to give them 
a knowledge of the sources of material. 

Method: Assign local subjects for research, such as "The 
High School Dance", "Should Football Be Prohibited", 
"Should Latin Be Required", etc. Insist on the use of the text 
method and require written or oral reports. Subjects requir- 
ing a more extended use of the library may also be given. 

6th. Week. 

Text Assignment : Chapter V. 

Purpose : To explain the Central Thought method and to give 
practice in its use. 

Method : The complete speech outline suggested in chapter 
VIII. may be used here. Uniformity in structure is an aid to 
the teacher. Blank outline forms can be secured from the au- 
thor of the text. Exercises in outline making, using the method 
suggested. Outlines should be criticised, and later corrected 
by the student. 

7th. Week. 

Text Assignment : Chapter VI. 

Purpose : To develop unity and variety in oral paragraph 

structure. 

Method : Analysis of paragraphs from speeches ; delivery of 

speeches from best outlines developed preceding week under 

Chapter V. Have class discover methods of development used 

by speakers. 



OUTLINE OF A BEGINNING COUESE 53 

8th. Week. 

Text Assignment : Chapter VII. 

Purpose : To develop a consciousness of the need of sustain- 
ing the interest of the audience ; to suggest means whereby this 
may be done. 

Method : Let student discover what it is in the speeches of 
others that interests him. Have him analyze the methods of 
some public speaker and report to the class. Let him con- 
sciously strive to hold the interest of the class by the use of 
the methods suggested. Let the class explain what interested 
them most in each speech. 

9th. Week. 

Text Assignment : Chapter VIII. Action and Motives. 

Purpose : To reveal the need for an appeal to motives when 
action is sought; to explain the motives that lead to action. 
Method : Have students analyze motives used by salesmen ; by 
advertisers in magazines ; by speakers. Speeches by students 
appealing for action of the class for some local cause. 

10th. Week. 

Text Assignment: Chapter VIII. Thought Assimilation and Oral 
Practice : 
Purpose : To give a method for the assimilation of organiza- 
tion and material as revealed in the speech outline. 
Method : Speeches of preceding week continued, students 
using method of assimilation suggested and comparing results. 
Watch Oral English. 

11th. Week. 

Text Assignment: Chapter IX. 

Purpose : To improve delivery by developing better concen- 
tration on each idea before speaking; by removing vocal and 
physical constrictions. 

Method : Delivery of memorized problems so that instructor 
may insist on adequate conceptions before speech. Extempore 
problems applying the same test. Breathing and relaxing exer- 
cises to free student from physical constrictions. 

12th. Week. 

Finish assigned speeches. 

Six weeks remain to be devoted to a further application of the 
method as a whole. By dividing the class into two sections, each 
student may appear once a week. An outline should be required on 



54 ESSENTIALS OF EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

the day he does not speak. This should be criticised and returned 
to him for correction. The corrected outline should be left on the 
instructor's desk as the speaker goes on the platform. 

It is a good plan to have a blank criticism form and give each 
speaker a written criticism to take away with him each time he 
speaks. Require that these should be returned at the end of the 
semester, and that they should show a marked improvement from 
week to week. The following criticism form is suggested : 

CRITICISM 

Name Date 

Purpose 

Analysis of Problem : 



Knowledge of Subject 

Development : 

a. Organization 

b. Oral Paragraph : . . 

c. Interest : 

d. Motives : 



Coordination of Agents 

a. Concentration : 

b. Expression : 

General : 



It is essential that the interest of the class be sustained to get the 
best results. This can be accomplished by varying the program each 
week, by organizing the class into a deliberative assembly, a civic 
organization or a debating club. Assign topics for discussion that 
are up-to-date and interesting. The following is merely suggestive : 

13th. Week. 

A program of speeches that might be given before a student 
assembly just before a football or a basketball game, for the 
purpose of arousing interest and bringing out a crowd. 

14th. Week. 

A Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's program. Speeches 
of different types, either expository or argumentative, may be 
used. Five minutes for general criticism at the end of the per- 
iod in addition to the written criticisms. 

15th. Week. 

Organize a deliberative assembly. Assign topic for discussion. 
Appoint chairman and enforce Robert's Rules of Order in car- 
rying on the discussion. Require each student to take part dur- 



OUTLINE OF A BEGINNING COURSE 55 

ing the week. The submitting of outlines might be waived for 
this week, but the student should use that method in his prep- 
aration. 

16th. Week. 

17th. Week. 

Divide class into debating teams, two or three on a team. Half 
of the teams should be affirmative and half negative. Assign 
interesting local or state questions. Require outlines on divi- 
sion of subject assigned each debater. Main speeches should 
be extempore; rebuttal, impromptu. Let audience act as judges 
for each debate. 

18th. Week. 

Let the class know at least two weeks before, that the last 
speech is to count as their oral examination in the course. Urge 
them to choose the subjects they are especially interested in, 
and to prepare thoroughly, using the outline method. 

The fundamental aims of the course, as stated in the introduc- 
tion to the text, should be kept constantly in mind. This is only a 
beginning course and perfection in speech should not be expected. 
If the teacher can succeed in at least partially overcoming the self- 
consciousness of the student, so that he can stand before an audi- 
ence and really think creatively, so that he can express those 
thoughts with conviction and sincerity without an undue amount 
of fear and trembling; if he can be taught an effective method of 
preparation and oral development, that will awaken originality, and 
establish genuine convictions, so that when he speaks, he speaks be- 
cause he knows, if this has been accomplished, then fundamental 
things have been done for the student and a foundation has been 
laid for future development. This should be the aim of a beginning 
course. 



IE APPLETON PRESS 
APPLETON. WIS. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



027 249 433 2 



Httl 
^7 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



027 249 433 2 



Hollinger Corp. 
pH 8.5 



